Boyer joined Sears in 1996 as a vice president of finance for the company's full-line stores, and was most recently vice president and controller. He will report to Day.

Last month, Sears cut its profit forecast amid soft sales and established a three-man Office of the Chief Executive, which includes Day, Chairman Arthur Martinez, and Alan Lacy, president of Sears Credit.

OSHA cuts fines

for manufacturer

Tecumseh -- The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has decreased the fine it imposed on a cellophane manufacturing plant after a worker died there in May.

OSHA reduced the fine for UCB Films Inc. from $25,200 to $15,120 in exchange for a promise from the firm to correct what the federal agency identified as five serious safety problems.

The company appealed OSHA's original fine, and it and the agency signed an agreement Tuesday.

The safety problems were found by OSHA inspectors looking into the death of Daniel Christopher, 25, who was pinned between two pieces of machinery.

Under the agreement, the company committed to using the $10,080 it saved in fines for employee safety programs.

Factory orders sprint

ahead in August

Washington -- Orders to U.S. factories vaulted ahead in August on the strength of higher demand for airplanes and electronics in another sign of a resurgence in manufacturing.

The 1.3 percent gain in factory orders was the 12th increase in the past 15 months, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Analysts had generally expected factory orders to rise 0.6 percent. Even that would have been brisk.

"This is a pace that ensures significant production increases for the rest of the year and into 2000," said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisers.